Hi there, I am a freshman looking to transfer schools purely for social reasons. I am looking to transfer to a slightly smaller school (I currently go to a large state school as an out of stater) of comparable academics with a more tight-knit community. Academically, my school is a fine fit and offers tons of good majors for my interests, but I just don’t enjoy the competitive social environment at my school. How should I go about writing my transfer common app essay given the fact that I don’t have very many academic reasons for transferring?
Not an authority on this by any means, but I’m also oos at a large school I don’t like and part (though not most) of my reason for transferring is social. If I was you, I would find some academic reasons to transfer and talk about this in your essay. You can definitely talk about why a your school isn’t a great fit because you feel out of place or whatever, but you probably want to find a few reasons why that’s bad for you academically, even if they’re not your top priority. Maybe say how you would prefer smaller class sizes and more individual attention that you would get from professors and advisors at a smaller school? You could also talk about how the poor fit doesn’t suit you academically I.e the campus isn’t diverse enough, you’re not near a city you’d like to network in, the study abroad program is weak, etc. Just out of curiosity where are you now and where are you looking to transfer? If the new schools are even a little better academically you can use that to your advantage.
Don’t say your current college is bad. Say the new one appeals to you more. Emphasise the positive,
Find the differences in program and underline them if you feel like academic reasons are good to write.
A tight-knit community sounds good for an essay.